By KYNDALL WINDHAM · After a week away from competition, the Skatin’ Rebels return to the ice Thursday and Friday for a road series against the Arizona Wildcats at Tucson…
After a week away from competition, the Skatin’ Rebels return to the ice Thursday and Friday for a road series against the Arizona Wildcats at Tucson Arena. Both games are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. MST.
UNLV last played Nov. 3-4, sweeping Arizona State in a midweek series at City National Arena to improve to 12-0. The Rebels enter the matchup as the ACHA's only undefeated team but will face an Arizona squad coming off a weekend sweep of Utah, including an overtime appearance in the opening game.
Through 12 games, the Rebels have scored 61 goals while allowing just 14. Despite their undefeated start, the team remains focused on approaching each matchup individually rather than looking too far ahead.
“Honestly, at the beginning of the year, our goal was always just to worry about the next game,” forward Dillon Kuntz said. “I'm not looking too far forward to the future. We're just basically taking one game at a time and not really thinking about our record right now, but we're really excited for this weekend.”
The Rebels have historically found success against the Wildcats. Since 2020, UNLV holds a 15-1-0 overall record against Arizona, including an undefeated record on the road. Across those 16 matchups, the Rebels have outscored the Wildcats 64-30.
Arizona's last win against UNLV came Oct. 22, 2021, in the opening game of that series. The Rebels have won every matchup against the Wildcats since then.
Following that loss, UNLV went on to record a 16-game winning streak during the 2021-22 season, which remains the longest overall winning streak in program history.
Scouting Arizona
The Arizona Wildcats enter the series with a 4-3-2 record and have allowed 29 goals through nine games.
Goaltender Hadyn Gould has started six of those games, posting a 3-2-1 record with a .911 save percentage and a 2.96 goals-against average. Gould was also in net for the Wildcats' recent wins against Utah.
Some of Arizona's offensive standouts include Riley Ruh, Justin Hughes and Alex Helgeson. Ruh leads the Wildcats with nine points and has recorded three power-play goals through nine games. Hughes has scored five goals, including one on the power play, and has eight points. Helgeson, a defenseman, has also recorded eight points, including seven assists, being a top playmaker for the team.
The Rebels will look to capitalize early in the series, particularly in the first period, as Arizona has tended to get off to slower starts before finding more consistency in the second and third periods.
Kuntz said the team recognizes the challenge of playing Arizona on the road and will focus on establishing its game early.
“Yeah, they're obviously always a hard team to play on the road, and their atmosphere is always pretty rowdy there,” Kuntz said. “So we got to play a good road game, especially our first period, just playing them hard and then coming out there and playing our game and not worrying about too much.”
“We'll control what we can control and just worry about how we start in those first periods.”
Head coach Anthony Vignieri-Greener said the Rebels will look to use their speed and transition game to create opportunities against an Arizona team that combines size with offensive skill.
“They're a big team. They play heavy, but they're also a skilled team,” Vignieri-Greener said. “The one thing we want to capitalize on is we want to use our speed against them. Being a bigger team, they're not as fast as us.”
“So if we keep the tempo and pace up, play north, move pucks right away and quickly, be quick in transition and attack off the rush, we're going to like where we're at this weekend.”
Players to watch
On the UNLV side, freshman forward Easton Edwards has emerged as one of the team's offensive standouts. Edwards has recorded 16 points on seven goals and nine assists despite playing in fewer games than most of his teammates.
Sophomore forward Luke Backel is another player to watch, sitting just behind Edwards with 14 points. Backel has recorded four goals and 10 assists, including two power-play goals this season.
In net, Liam Choquette has been the go-to in the crease. The goaltender has recorded two shutouts in his last three games and has allowed just eight goals through his eight appearances. He currently holds a .955 save percentage.
The Rebels have continued to emphasize special teams during practice, and their recent penalty-kill performance has helped them take the conference lead in the category. UNLV currently leads the conference with a 90.6% penalty-kill percentage after not allowing a power-play goal in its last four games against Arizona State and Utah.
“Special teams obviously win you games and lose you games,” Kuntz said. “If you can't kill penalties, then it's hard to see a goal for them. And if we can't score on the power play when we have an extra man, it's a big difference.”
With the series marking UNLV's final games before the Chicago Classic, the coaching staff is emphasizing puck management and defensive-zone communication rather than…